








i! ^9) 



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9 













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CCTJtSWTS, 



Lansing Improvement Association, 
History of Lansing, 
Natural Advantaoks, 

Climate and Health, 
Water power, 
Timber, 

Coal and other Fuels, 
Lumber, 
Building Stone, 
Clay, .... 
Soil, Grains, Fruits, etc., 
Railroads, .... 

How to reach Lansing by railroad, 
Lansing as a Tradk Centkr, 
BusiNKSs Entrrphisks, 
Jobbing Trade, 
Wooden Manufacturers, 
Iron Interests, . 
Leather interests, . 
Financial, .... 
Banking and Money, 
Insurance, 
Public Institutions, 
New Capitol, 
State Offices, 
Public Schools, 
State Library, 

Library and Literary Association 
Public School Library, 
State Reform School, 
State Agricultural College, . 
Odd Fellows Institute, 

Churches 

Newspapkks 

Republican 

Journal, 

Mineral and Magnetic Well, 



Paob. 
3 
3 
6 
6 
8 
8 

10 
12 
13 
13 
13 
14 
15 
16 
19 
19 
19 
20 
21 
22 
22 
22 
23 
23 
27 
28 
29 
30 
30 
31 
33 
34 
36 
37 
37 
37 
38 



IXalalJSXS^ikTSONS. 



The New Capitol, . 
Railway Map of Michigan, 
Agricultural College, . 
Odd Fellows Institute, 
Mineral Spuing Hotel, . 
Lansing House, 



Frontispiece. 

Between 2 and 3 

. 33 

35 

. 39 

Third page of cover. 



LANSING, 



CAPITAL OF MICHIGAN: 



ADVANTAGES, NATtJEAL AND ACQIIIKED, 



A CENTER OF TRADE AND MANUFACTURES, 



HOW IT IS TO BECOME THE COMMERCIAL AND FINANCIAL, AS 
WELL AS THE POLITICAL CAPITAL OF A GREAT STATE. 



Published under the auspices of the Lansing Improvement 
Association. 



1 8 T 3. 







LANSING : 
W. S. GEORGE & CO., PRINTERS AND BINDERS, 

1873. 






THE LANSING "t^ 



IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION "I 

Has for its special object the building up of the Manufac- 
turing and Jobbing Interests of this city. 



OFFICERS, 



J. J. BUSH, President. 

A. N. HART, Vice President. 

E. W. SPARROW, .... Sec'y and Treas. 



k 



EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. 

J. S. TooKER, Mayor, J. Robson, Secretary, 

T. Gale Merrill, A. E. Cowles, 

C. W. Butler. 

All Correspondence addressed to the Secretary of the Executive 
Committee will receive prompt attention. 






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L ^ nsr s I N" G 



CAPITAL OF MICHIGAN 




f HE City of Lansing and Capital of Michigan is situ- 
ated on Grand River, and is a part of the township 



of Lansing, the northwest corner town of Ingham 
County, in town 4 north, of range 2 west. It is 84 
miles from the City of Detroit, by the Detroit, Lansing & Lake 
Michigan Railroad ; 38 miles north of Jackson, by the Jack- 
son, Lansing & Saginaw Railroad, and GO miles south of Sag- 
inaw by the same road. It is about 50 miles south of the cen- 
ter of the Lower Peninsula. Its exact location is 42 degrees 56 
minutes and 28 seconds north latitude, and 84 degrees 32 min- 
utes and 40 seconds west longitude from Greenwich. 

The city, as first platted, was two miles in length north and 
south, by one mile east and west. 

It was laid out upon a liberal scale, the main avenues 
being seven, and the other streets five rods in width. 
Eleven acres were reserved for grounds upon which to build 
a Capitol. Seven and a half squares were reserved for 
public purposes, in addition to Capitol square. Of these, 
blocks 78, 79, and 81 are two blocks north of Capitol square ; 
139 and 140 are two blocks south ; and between these two last 
named blocks, four and a half acres, comprising block 125 and 
half of 124, were reserved for a grove. Block 115, upon which 
the old State House now stands, was also reserved. 



LANSING AND ITS ADVANTAGES. 



This school section was located upon Grand Kiver, just 
below its confluence with Cedar River. Tlie Grand River, 
at the city of Lansing, is something over 50 miles from 
its source, and the Cedar River has a course of about 50 miles. 
Grand River rises in Jackson county, floM'S through the city 
of Jackson and Eaton Rapids to Lansing. Its course through 
the city is for a mile and a quarter in an easterly direction, then 
nearly north for one mile and a half, then westerly until it 
leaves the city limits. In this horse-shoe is located section 
sixteen, upon whicli stands the Capitol, and the main busi- 
ness center of the city. Another business center is located 
in the northern portion of the city, upon the east bank of 
Grand River, known as North Lansing, where a number 
of the manufacturing establishments are located, as well as 
many stores. 

The State also gave to every religious denomination a lot 
upon which to build a church, which was reserved to them for 
a limited period of time. Many denominations took advan- 
tage of this donation, and several church buildings are now 
standing on the lots originally given by the State, among 
which are the Free Will Baptist, the First Baptist, the Central 
Methodist Episcopal, and the Universalist. 

The city is well lighted with coal gas furnished by a stock 
company composed largely of its business men. The works 
were built in the summer and fall of 18?3, are first-class in all 
their appointments, and of sutBcieut capacity to supply at 
least 15,000 inhabitants. Main pipe has been laid on most of 
the principal streets, and street lamps of the latest and most 
approved pattern erected by the city throughout the extent of 
the pipe. The business of the company is constantly and rap- 
idly increasing. 

The i^opulation of the city and township of Lansing in 1845 
was 88; in 1850, 1,^29; in 1854, 1,550. The city was organ- 
ized in 1859, and its population by the census of 18G0 was 
3,085, and of the township 407. The population of the city 



LANSING AND ITS ADVANTAGES. 



in 18G4 was 3,573, that of the township remaining nearly sta- 
tionary, having fallen off 28 from the census of 1860. In 1870 
the population of the city was 5,243, and of the township, 
823, — a total of G,06G. By that census the township contained 
183 voters, and the city 1,230. The population divided by 
wards, in 1870, was as follows: First ward, 1,329; second 
ward, 1,156 ; third ward, 1,591, and the fourth ward 1,165. 
Of the total population of the cit3', 4,403 were native born ; 
838 were foreign born ; 77 were colored, and there was one 
native Chinaman. There were 1,065 dwellings and 1,091 
families. 

From the location of the Capital up to 1871 the growth of 
Lansing was slow, and did not come up to the expectations of 
the early settlers. The reason was due to several causes, 
among which was its inaccessibility, the first railroad having 
been built from Owosso to Lansing in 1862. The country was 
sparsely settled about it, and the lands heavily timbered, 
making it anything but inviting to settlers. Much of the 
land about the city had been taken up by speculators from 
other States, who refused to sell at reasonable prices. But the 
strongest element against the growth of Lansing was the con- 
stant fear among many of its inhabitants of the removal of 
the Capital to some other site. Many attempts were made to 
effect this object, and it was not until the Legislature of 1871 
voted §1,200,000, to be raised by taxation in six years, for the 
purpose of building a State House, that the question of Lan- 
sing's retaining that position permanently was regarded as 
finally settled. Since that time the growth of the city has 
been rapid, and the present population, as taken by actual 
canvass in April, 1873, is 8,556. The future of the city may 
be regarded as secure. 



LANSING AND ITS ADVANTAGES. 



NATURAL ADVANTAGES. 



CLIMATE AND HEALTH OF LANSING AND VICINITY. 

To those contemplating residence in a place, a consideration 
of first importance is that relating to its sanitary character. 
Concerning city or country, one of the first questions should 
he, Has it a healthful climate? If not, human skill cannot 
preserve life to its full and natural limit. 

This question of climate embraces many subjects, one of the 
most important being that of temperature, which, under ordi- 
nary circumstances, is of itself sufficient to determine the 
probabilities, if not the possibilities, of human progress in 
any locality. It has been shown that a great jDroportion of all 
the large and prosperous cities of the world have been built 
lip within very narrow limits of average annual temperature, 
namely: between 45 and 55 degrees Fahrenheit. Outside 
these limits of annual temperature, human progress has 
seemed to be at a disadvantage. Having to contend to an unu- 
sual extent with natural obstacles dependent npou climate, 
a study of the result shows, tbat cities are not easily formed 
and maintained under such circumstances. The average 
was 47°.ll Fahrenheit, being within the limits above stated as 
proven to be favorable. In this respect our city is well located. 

The actual temperature, however, is still more favorable 
than this average would indicate, both to human welfare and 
to the plant life upon which man's happiness in part depends. 
The meteorological tables of this country show that the tem- 
perature of Michigan is more uniform in both winter and 
summer than is usual in this latitude, or on this isothermal 
line, — that neither the heat of summer nor the cold of winter 
is so intense as in such other regions. This is undoubtedly 



LANSING AND ITS ADVANTAGES. 



due to the fact that, except on the south side, the State is sur- 
rounded by large bodies of water wliich serve to equalize the 
temperature, and also the humidity of the atmosphere, which, 
as is well known, is very favorable to the life and health of 
man, and to the vegetable productions upon which he depends 
for food. 

However good the natural climate of a locality may be, 
man may, and often does, render the conditions bad artificial- 
ly. Much of the excessive mortality in cities may fairly be 
attributed to massing together the inhabitants by means of 
narrow streets and alleys, crowded tenements, and to deficient 
drainage. From such conditions result hundreds and thou- 
sands of deaths, and untold suffering of mind and body. But 
such are not the conditions in Lansing. Her founders were 
wise in providing that all the streets should be broad. Sev- 
eral blocks in different parts of the city are also reserved from 
sale, and intended for use as public parks. Wide streets, open 
parks, the high and airy location, upon either bank of "Grand" 
river which courses through the city, all combined, render it 
impossible to crowd people so closely together as has been 
done in some cities, to their great injury ; while the character of 
the soil, the height of the city above the river, and other topo- 
graphical conditions, are such as to render it possible to have 
an excellent system of sewerage, as there now is of surface 
drainage. The active board of health of the city have also 
long maintained a regular and useful system of sanitary police. 

Some portion of the excessive death-rate in cities, it is 
believed, should be attributed to the want of harmony between 
the amount of animal and of vegetable life maintained there- 
in, — to an excess of the exhalations of living animals, and a 
lack of oxygen in the free form in which it is naturally sup- 
plied to country air by the vegetable kingdom; it being a 
function of animals to exhale carbonic acid, and of plants to 
absorb the same and to exhale oxygen, which to man and 
other animals is the life-sustaining part of jiure air. In addi- 



LANSING AND ITS ADVANTAGES. 



tion to the other healthful influences ol" a proper amount of 
shade trees, shrubbery, and plants, in thickly settled localities, 
there can be no doubt but that the constant supply of free 
oxygen which growing trees and plants contribute to the 
atmosphere is an important item in a sanitary point of view. 
Our people seem not to have neglected to set out shade trees 
and shrubbery, which, on some of the streets, have already 
attained sufficient size to add materially to the beauty as well 
as to the healthfulness of the locality. 

Considering all these natural and artificial conditions, it 
would seem that Lansing should exhibit a good record of 
health, and this appears to be the fact. So far as evidence is 
at hand, it appears that the local conditions for health at Lan- 
sing compare favorably with those of any other locality in 
Michigan— a State where the climate is more than usually 
favorable to health and life. 

WATER-POWER. 

Although in these days of steam, water privileges are not 
considered so essential to the growth of manufactures, yet the 
fact of a city's having a valuable water-power may still be 
regarded as of great importance. The water-power at Upper 
and Lower Lansing is excellent. That at North Lansing has 
been utilized, and has become the nucleus of a large manufac- 
turing interest; that at the Upper Town is equally good and is 
only waiting for the right men to avail themselves of it. The 
fall obtained at each of these privileges is nine feet, and the 
amount of water is only limited by Grand Kiver. 

TIMBER OF THE VARIOUS SORTS, AND ITS ACCESSIBILITY 
TO OUR CITY. 

We are situated in the midst of the finest variety of hard- 
wood timber of the following sorts, viz.: beech, maple, ash, 
white-oak, bass-wood, black-walnut, cherry, etc. The finest 
beech and hard-maple, which exists in great abundance within 
the immediate vicinity of our city, is now only available for 



LANSING AND ITS ADVANTAGES. 



wood, at S2.50 per cord, — a price rendering it of little or no 
value, at a greater distance than about four miles from our 
city, yet this timber would be a mine of wealth if properly util- 
ized. Any amount of it could be furnished for years to come, 
at from $10 to $13 per thousand feet, delivered, in the city, 
manufactured into lumber of any shape. Millions of feet of 
this timber, as well as of oak and ash, can be delivered in our 
city by teams at a price below what any railroad could afford 
to move it, although much of it would be on the line of roads 
leading into our city. 

Large quantities of oak, ash, walnut, cherry, hickory, and 
rock-elm are being shipped from our city and the country 
adjacent thereto, to eastern and western market. Our rock- 
elm, until recently regarded of little or no value, is now 
used with the greatest success for chairs and many other 
purposes where bending is necessary, and is now being shipped 
to Troy, N. Y., and Boston in large quantities, and doubtless 
is frequently returned to our State and the West in manu- 
factured articles. White-wood also exists in this locality, and 
sells at low prices, — about the same as common pine. Quite 
a traffic has been and is now carried on in purchasing black- 
walnut and cherry lumber and shipping it East, with good prof- 
its to the dealer, but it is of little advantage to our country 
compared to what it would be if manufactured before being 
shipped. 

Another great advantage we possess is our easy access 
to the extensive pineries of Korthern Michigan. We have 
direct connection with this great lumber region by means of 
the two railroads diverging from our city to the northeast and 
northwest, penetrating the pineries for over one hundred 
miles each, which will afford freight for said roads for at least 
a quarter of a century to their utmost capacity. 

The average number of cars, laden with lumber, passing 
through our city at the present time will exceed one hundred 
per day, and must increase very rapidly as the roads are extended 



10 LANSING AND ITS ADVANTAGES. 



northerly. A much more extended reference might be made 
to the advantages of our timber in connection with the man- 
ufacture of articles composed largely of wood, and especially 
such as are in constant demand in our own and adjacent 
States, such as agricultural implements furniture, railroad 
cars, etc., etc. It is very questionable economy for onr rail- 
roads to wear out thousands of cars in hauling from and 
through our city, to distant points, the raw material for build- 
ing other cars to take their place. These are considerations 
worthy of so7ne note, at least by manufacturers. 

COAL AND OTHER FUELS. 

A question of first importance to any manufacturing city 
is that of fuel. Unless this can be obtained at sufficiently low 
prices, it forms an almost insuperable obstacle to the growth 
of manufactures. A city might have never so favorable rail- 
road connections, possess capital, public spirit and energy, and 
yet be altogether impracticable as a manufacturing center, if 
the cost of fuel was so great as to make the use of steam power 
unprofitable. 

In this respect, Lansing again comes to the front with a 
wealth of wood and coal, accessible and cheap. Being situ- 
ated in the midst of heavy forests of hard timber, wood, being 
the most easily and cheaply obtained, has been hitherto the 
staple article of fuel, and for some years to come it will con- 
tinue to be plenty at low prices. But in all cases, Avhen it 
becomes necessary to use coal, it can be obtained in good quan- 
tities and quality within twelve miles of the city, at the rate of 
from $4 50 to $5 per ton. 

We cannot do better, in this connection, than to quote from 
the preliminary report of the Geological Survey of this State, 
which has, during the last season, largely directed its labors 
to the examination of the coal-iields of the Lower Peninsula : 

"In the records of former geological surveys the approxi- 
mate extent of the coal-bearins; strata over the surface of our 



LANSING AND ITS ADVANTAGES. 11 



State has been indicated as follows: It forms the north part 
of Jackson county, overlaps the northeast corner of Calhoun 
county and the northwestern corner of Washtenaw county, 
and covers parts of Eaton, Ingham, Livingston, Ionia, Clin- 
ton, Shiawassee, and Genesee counties, and the west half of 
Tuscola. It also covers part of Saginaw, Gratiot, Montcalm, 
Bay, ]\Iidland, Isabella, and Mecosta counties, and the south 
part of Osceola, Clare, and Gladwin counties are included 
within the area in which productive coal beds can be expected. 
This space amounts to about 10,000 square miles. 

"In Shiawassee county, twenty-five miles from Lansing, 
mines are opened at Owosso and Corunna. The coal bed there 
is three feet thick, and is found at a depth of fifty feet below the 
surface. The coal is resting on a thick bed of fire clay, which 
is mined by the Owosso Mining Company, and is said to answer 
its purpose excellently, tests having been made in some Lake 
Superior iron furnaces. 

" A three-feet bed of very good hard block-coal is mined at 
Williamstown, Ingham county, twelve miles from Lansing, at a 
depth of from forty to fifty feet below the surface. At Grand 
Ledge, Eaton county, coal is mined in the bluffs of Grand 
River, in two beds about thirty feet apart. 

" The fact that a large portion of Michigan is underlaid by 
profitably workable coal beds, has been for some time sufii- 
ciently known, and the question arises : What is the reason 
that so little energy is shown in opening these buried treasures, 
while at the same time wc send immense sums to Pennsylva- 
nia and Ohio for our supply ? We find the answer in a widely 
spread opinion amongst our own people that Michigan coal is 
of very poor quality, contains too much sulphur, etc. I will 
acknowledge that there is some better coal in Pennsylvania 
and Ohio than we have, but much of that we import is not 
better than our own. The iron pyrites contaminating our 
coal is not indiscriminately disseminated through it, but is 
concentrated in certain seams, which can be easily separated, 



13 LANSING AND ITS ADVANTAGES. 



leaving, after selection, a coal sufficiently I'rec from the admix- 
ture to answer for all ordinary heating purposes. At Jackson, 
where tiie coul contains tlie greatest proportion of pyrites, the 
pyritous'part finds a ready sale to the sulphuric acid manufac- 
tory. The Owosso, Corunna, and Williamston mines contain 
much less of the impurity, and the coal of Williamston prom- 
ises to be well adapted for iron furnaces. My constant occu- 
pation in the field has not allowed me yet to subject the differ- 
ent coals to a chemical analysis, but from external appear- 
ances, and from the testimony of parties that have used them, 
I am satisfied that our coals arc not justly appreciated. 

"A coal dealer told me of an instance where he offered Cor- 
unna coal at a low price to certain parties, and could not sell 
it. Subsequently he offered the same coal to them under the 
fiction of being Ohio coal, and sold it at an advanced rate,, 
never hearing them afterward complain of the quality. 

"Even if Michigan coal should be somewhat inferior to the 
coal we buy from abroad, the diCference in price is sufficiently 
large to induce consumers to a trial. A ton of Pennsylvania 
or Ohio coal is sold in Michigan at about 89, while our own 
coal can be furnished along the railroad lines of the State at 
§4 75 to $5 per ton ; and perhaps the price could be still more 
reduced, if the increase of the coal trade would induce the 
railroad companies to reduce their rates of freight for this 
article." 

LUMBER. 

Two of the railroads now built, and two others being con- 
structed run through Lansing into the immense pine forests 
of northern Michigan, the competition in freights thus 
afforded maintains a very healthful lumber market, and the 
different grades of hard and soft w^ood lumber can always be 
obtained at prices ranging from §12 to $30 per M., car lots. 

BUILDIXG STOXE. 

A superior sandstone, light gray, and variegated in color, is 



LANSING AND ITS ADVANTAGES. 13 



found ill sulficicnt quantities in the bed and banks of Grand 
River, about a mile above its junction with the Cedar, to 
make it of great value in the future building of the Capital 
City. The quarries have not been worked extensively as yet, 
for the reason that stone buildings are too expensive for a 
new country ; but the time must come when they Avill be 
extensively and profitably worked. 

CLAY. 

There is, in and near the city, an inexhaustible amount of 
clays of the best quality for pottery, drain tile, and brick, and 
all these articles are being manufactured more or less exten- 
sively. The far-famed white brick of Milwaukee are being, 
and can be, duplicated here to any extent, while we can also 
furnisli the cherry brick, so deservedly popular with many. 

Mr. Geo. B. Hall, who is supplying the brick for the new 
Capitol, is also shipping large quantities to Jackson and other 
towns, and there is no good reason why, with our abuudant 
and cheaji fuel, our direct and competing lines of railroads to 
Chicago, we may not send to that extensive and growing city 
millions of brick every year, at remunerative prices. They are 
now being furnished on the yards at from $5 to IG per thou- 
sand. The demand for drain tile is just commencing, and 
must increase rapidly. 

Some tests made by practical manufacturers have shown 
that we have good fire-clay in large quantities, which is only 
awaiting to be called into economic uses. 

SOIL, GKAIXS, FliUIT, ETC. 

Lansing is situated in the midst of as rich an agricultural 
district as there is in the country. The soil is a gravelly 
loam, with a mixture of phosphates which has made Michigan 
famous as a wheat-growing State. All the products of this 
latitude are raised in surpassing richness and abundance, 
while from over, the bosoms of our inland seas which wrap 
us about as a mantle, come the moistening winds, moderat- 



14 LANSING AND ITS ADVANTAGES. 



ing the temperature of tlie whole State, and giving ns 
the fruits almost of a tropical clime. Lands within 15 miles 
of the city range in value from Slo to 840 per acre for tim- 
bered, and from $25 to $75 for improved farms. There is 
no better chance to realize fortunes from the advancement of 
real estate than is now offered in the farming lands about 
Lansing; their advancement must be commensurate with the 
growth of the city. 



RAILROADS. 



The importance of railroad facilities to the manufacturing 
interests of a community, is apparent to all. It is essential 
that cheap transportation should be furnished for all outgoing 
and incoming freights, and equally important that this should 
extend to and reach the different markets and important 
towns and cities of the country, thereby affording the best 
opportunity for the purchase of needed goods and ready sale 
at remunerative prices for the agricultural and manufactured 
products of the country. In this respect Lansing is confess- 
edly equal to any city in the State, or v/est. With the rail- 
roads already completed, and those to be built within the next 
twelve months, she has five actively competing lines connect- 
ing with all parts of, the country and offering the very cheap- 
est rate of freights for goods out of or into the city. This 
answers the demands of all manufacturers, — cheap transporta- 
tion. 

The three roads from the north uniting here, make of 



LANSING AND ITS ADVANTAGES. 15 



Lansing the great central interior city for the lumber inter- 
ests of the State, and as a point for the easy collection of the 
Yarious kinds of Michigan lumber, she is without a rival. 

An examination of our railroads leading south will show 
the very best facilities for distribution throughout the entire 
southern country. 

We have three distinct and independent lines connecting- 
with Chicago and the west. 

The Detroit, Lansing & Lake Michigan road, with its con- 
nections across Lake Michigan to the northwest, clearly indi- 
dicate that it is soon to become an east and west trunk line.. 
The early completion of the Chicago & Lake Huron railroad 
will constitute another great east and west through line, giv- 
ing to Lansing the advantage of at least two great east and 
west thoroughfares, and the day is not far distant when the 
roads north and northwest will be the means of uniting the 
minerals of the upper country with the coal fields in the 
vicinity of Lansing, which are considered the best in thet 
State. Our roads are so located that they furnish within the 
city limits, from sixteen to twenty miles of railroad front for 
manufacturing purposes, all of which is well supplied with an 
abundance of water for steam power. 

Thus has Lansing, by its natural situation and the energy 
of its citizens, secured to itself the required advantages for a 
large and prosperous manufacturing city. 

HOW TO GET TO LAXSI;N^G BY RAILROAD. 

Coming from the South and West — Leave Michigan Central 
Railroad at Battle Creek, and take Peninsular Eailroad. 

Coming from the South — Leave the Michigan Central Rail- 
road at Jackson. 

Coming from the East — Take Detroit, Lansing & Lake 
Michigan Railroad at Detroit. 

Coming from the North and East — Leave Detroit & Mil- 
waukee Railroad at Owosso. 



IC LANSING AND ITS ADVANTAGES. 



Coming from the North and "West— Leave the Detroit & 
Milwaukee Railroad at Ionia. 

Passengers from East or West, take Northern Central Mich- 
igan Railroad by way of Jonesville. 



LANSING AS A TRADE CENTER. 



It is a popular fallacy that the great cities are the true and 
only centers of the jobbing trade of this country. That if 
the country merchant wishes to stock up for the retail trade, 
he must go to New York, Philadelphia, Boston, or Chicago 
in order to buy cheaply. This, as trade has been heretofore, 
is practically true. There have been, in fact, no other places 
where goods could be found in variety and quantities which 
the trade demands. But there is no good reason why this 
should bo so. A commercial center is the result of a combi- 
nation of circumstances pointing to it as a convenient depot 
of supplies. A general, when he establishes his base of sup- 
plies, has reference always, as a first consideration, to the easa 
and cheapness of transportation in reaching the base,and in dis- 
tributing from thence to his army. This is the law of commer- 
cial centers. If a general proposed to quarter his army upon the 
country he was occupying, he would show poor qualities for his 
command if he should gather the products of that country and 
ship them to a distant city for storage, to be reshipped to him, 
at double cost of transportation, as he should need them. 
And yet this is what the people of the West and South have 
been doing always. There may have been some excuse for it 



LANSING AND ITS ADVANTAGES. 17 



in the earlier days, but the West is now no longer a wilderness. 
It owes it to itself, as the very heart of this great country, to 
take its position as the life and center of trade. "We raise the 
raw materials; we grow the timber, furnish the iron, copper, 
and lead that are the crude germs of our multiform trade and 
commerce. We ship these, at extortionate rates of carriage, 
to the East, a thousand miles, where they are handled over two 
or three times, and returned to us in some new form for our 
use, with from 100 to 500 per cent added for transportation 
and manufacture. While we are waiting for them to be man- 
ufactured and returned 1o us, a large part of our active pop- 
ulation is kept idle and unproductive, so that when the goods 
do come they have no means to buy with, and are obliged to 
resort to credit. 

Our direct loss in this transaction is the whole cost of trans- 
portation, and the time of the idle men who ought to be 
employed in their manufacture. The indirect losses, resulting 
from our dependent position and the corrupting influence of 
idleness upon society, are infinitely greater. 

The remedy for this is in the establishment of depots of 
supplies and manufacturing centers — in fact, bases of com- 
mercial operations, — throughout the West, contiguous and 
central to the territory naturally needing a common center. 
These centers cannot be written or talked up. They grow up 
out of the needs of the people, being the result, as before 
stated, of the law of easy and cheap transportation for col- 
lecting and distributing the products of trade. 

In this regard, and as affording a natural center of trade for 
Michigan, no city in the State can offer superior advantages 
to Lansing. Two of the great competing trunk lines to the 
Atlantic seaboard have important branches running through 
it. It has only 84 miles to lake transportation, by way of 
the Detroit, Lansing & Lake Michigan E. E., and is on the 
line of the railroad from Port Huron to Chicago. 
3 



18 LANSING AND ITS ADVANTAGES. 



One special advantage of Lansing is its central location in 
the State. Another is the difference in the expense of doing 
business in a comparatively small town as compared with a 
populous city. The difference in rents, taxes, insurance, cost 
of living, etc., all having to be made up by adding to the price 
of goods. It is a well known fact in trade, that half at least 
of the failures result from the enormous expenses, we may 
say extravagance, of carrying on the business. Field, Leiter 
& Co. of Chicago, are said to have paid $52,000 a year for the 
rent of their store before the great fire; and the Boston 
Square Dealing Clothing Store in the same city, are said to 
have taken a five years' lease of their new store at S25,000 a year. 
These arc only single items in the long catalogue of extrava- 
gant but necessary expenses attending the transaction of a 
large business in a great city. In Europe it is different. Some 
of the greatest commercial houses of England and the Conti- 
nent keep only an ofhce with samples in London, Paris, Ber- 
lin, or Vienna, at a nominal rent, while their warehouses, 
where their goods are stored ready for shipment, are in the 
country, where ground rents and values are cheap. 

The railroads have made Lansing the hub of the Michigan 
wheel, in -which they are the spokes. Goods can be brought 
to this city as cheaply as to Detroit or Chicago. The business 
of selling them can be conducted with much greater economy, 
and the means of distributing the goods in every direction 
throughout the country is unsurpassed. 

With these advantages we think we have a right to call 
upon men of means and business energy, to come here and 
establish their various branches of industry, — their mills, 
factories, machine shops, wholesale stores in woolens, dry 
goods, boots and shoes, groceries, etc., with the full coulldence 
that with proper effort, such as they would be compelled to 
make in a greater mart, they can meet with quite as full a 
return upon the capital invested. 



LANSING AND ITS ADVANTAGES. 19 



BUSINESS ENTERPRISES. 



THE JOBBING TRADE. 

"While the people of Lansing have been specially alive to the 
importance of building up the manufacturing interest of the 
city, they have not neglected the trade in staple goods manu- 
factured elsewhere. The Dry Goods, Boot and Shoe, Grocery, 
and Hardware trades are each represented here by firms doing 
a large and exclusively wholesale business. There is, and can 
be, no reason why a merchant in Lansing cannot wholesale 
goods at as cheap and even a cheaper rate than a merchant in 
a large city, his expenses being less, and his means of trans- 
portation as good as the best. 

The jobbing trade of Lansing is to form a very important 
feature in its future prosperity. There is plenty of room, and 
the first who occupy the field will, of course, have the first 
opportunities, 

"WOODEN MANUFACTURES. 

All establishments that have been started here, using wood, 
have been more than successful, owing to the abundance of all 
kinds of timber, and its cheapness. 

There are several establishments in this line ; among them, 
three manufacturing sash, doors, and blinds. They have, on 
the average, 100 men constantly employed, and in fact there is 
no limit to this business, as the goods can be shipped to any 
part of the country. 

The manufacture of chairs is getting to be one of the 
important industries of this city, owing to the abundance of 
maple, beech, and oak. Oue establishment has been in opera- 
tion four years, and has been so successful that new buildings 
of the most permanent kind are being erected in connection 



20 LANSING AND ITS ADVANTAGES. 



with the former one. Also, a company doing business at 
Toledo, Ohio, seeing the advantages in getting where the raw 
material was plenty and cheap, has purchased ground, and is 
now erecting one of the largest chair liictories in the country, 
and will employ 100 hands. These buildings will be ready for 
occupation about January 1, 1874. 

There is also an establishment for the manufacture of spokes, 
felloes, and bent work, doing a large business. 

The making of barrels is carried on very extensively by 
two firms, — one employing about sixty men, and the other 
twenty. This business is very profitable, on account of the 
immense quantity of the best white oak in our vicinity. 

There are other establishments engaged in manufacturing 
from wood, and all working to their full capacity, yet other 
branches could find a good opportunity. For instance, the 
manufacture of wagons, — all of the timber used in their con- 
struction being here. Also the building of railroad cars, hand 
cars, etc.; in short, any article wherein wood enters largely in 
their construction, the raw material being so cheap that the 
manufactured goods will compete Avith any others in any mar- 
ket in the United States. 

IRON IXTEUESTS. 

Iron manufacturing in Lansing is still in its infancy, but 
little as yet having been accomplished in this line. 

Messrs. Cady, Glassbrook & Co., at the north part of the 
city, who succeed Metlin & Co., manufiicture agricultural 
implements, sawing machines, and do a general jobbing and 
machine business. They employ about ten men, and turned 
out about ^15,000 worth of work the present year. 

The Lansing Iron Works succeed W. W. Ilildreth, and have 
gone in with ample capital to do an extensive business in 
steam engines and railroad work. They are putting up a fine 
shop at the corner of Shiawassee and Cedar streets, with a 
western front on L. S. & M. S. R. R. 



LANSING AND ITS ADVANTAGES. 21 



E. Bemenfc & Sons are making a specialty of agricultural 
implements. They have been located in Lansing nearly four 
years, and are steadily increasing their business every year. 
The present year they will turn out about $18,000 worth of 
work, and during the present year from January 1st to Sep- 
tember 1st, have employed on an average 15 hands. They 
intend to largely increase the business another year. 

THE LEATHER INTERESTS. 

The tanning and manufacturing of leather of all kinds 
would be a first-class paying investment in our city. Since 
the first settlement of the place there has not at any time been 
one-half enough of capital invested in the business to supply 
home demand, and what there has been has paid a good profit 
on the investment. There is enough consumed ia Lansing to 
employ from fifty to seventy-five thousand dollars capital at a 
good profit on the investment for home consumption and the 
retail trade, to say nothing of what could be handled at 
wholesale with the railroad facilities that Lansing afibrds 
for shipment of leather out, and hides and bark in. Oak 
bark is plenty in this and the adjoining counties, and can 
be obtained as cheaply as in any of the "Western States. 

Leather being always a cash article in the market, and of 
ready sale at market prices, the manufacturer has an advantage 
over a large class of manufacturers of other goods ; it will sell 
itself even, without advertising. Nearly all the hides thrown 
upon the market are bought up by outside parties and shipped 
to other places, which could be handled here but for the lack 
of tanning facilities. 

The Grand and Cedar rivers running through our city 
afibrd ample water facilities used in tanning purposes; and 
taking a general and prospective vieAV of the location and 
surroundings, and the wants of the people, there is no place 
that can afibrd a better prospect for the manufacture and sale 
of leather. 



23 LANSING AND ITS ADVANTAGES. 



FINANCIAL. 



BANKING AND MONEY. 

The city of Lansing has four banks: The Second National 
Bank, capital $100,000 ; the Lansing National Bank, capital 
$75,000; and two private banks, viz.: C. Hewitt & Co., and 
Eugene Angell. 

There is about 8250,000 invested in the banking business. 
There is also some money, besides, used in brokerage, etc. As 
the city and country about are growing and improving rapidly, 
there is a call and a good opportunity to use a large amount 
of money more than the present facilities afford, at a rate 
which will net the capitalist ten per cent, on the best real 
estate security, "with the comfortable assurance that the securi- 
ties for money loaned or invested are growing more valuable 
every day, and a corresponding surety of its repayment with 
good profits. 

All of our banks and capitalists passed through the late 
money crisis without suspension, and have continued, and still 
continue, to do business as usual, with good prospects for the 
future. 

STATE INSURANCE COMPANY OF LANSING. 

This company has been in successful operation since 1863, 
in which year it was organized under the general insurance 
law of 1859. 

The capital of the company is $100,000, with a surplus of 
$19,000, making total assets $119,000. Transacting a general 
insurance business, the company has so far confined its opera- 
tions to the limits of this State. Managed with care and pru- 
dence, the company carry but small lines on special and mer- 
cantile hazards, limiting the amount of each policy in the class 



LANSING AND ITS ADVANTAGES. 23 



of risks mentioned to about 12,000, and on less hazardous prop- 
erty to $3,000. The oflBcers of the company are: 

John J. Bush, PresiJent; lion. A. N. Hart, Vice President 5 
George E. Eanney, Secretary. 

Directors : J. J. Bush, Hon. \V. H. Chapman, Hon. A. N. 
Hart, Hon. Whitney Jones, Hon. Cyrus Hewitt, Hon. H. B. 
Shank, J. B. Hull, H. IngersoU, Geo. E. Ranney. 



PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS. 



THE NEW CAPITOL. 

By the courtesy of Allen L. Bours, Esq., Secretary of the 
Board of State Building Commissioners, we are enabled to 
give the accompanying concise description of the architecture 
of the new Capitol, from the account that was enrolled on 
parchment for deposit in the corner-stone. The description 
was prepared by Mr. Bours himself, and is a part of the con- 
tents of the parchment volume, containing a brief history of 
the State, prepared by him also. This volume, together with 
other articles, are hermetically sealed in the stone, under a 
slab of slate carved with the State arms. The description is 
as follows: 

"In response to an advertisement of the (State Building) 
Commissioners soliciting competitive designs for a new Capi- 
tol, twenty sets of drawings were received from architects of 
various localities, on December :^8, 1871. 

"Alter a careful examination of each, the board, on the 24th 
of January, 1872, adopted the design of Elijah E. Myers, 



24 LANSING AND ITS ADVANTAGES. 



Esq., an architect then residing at Springfield, III., and entered 
into a contract with him as architect and general superintend- 
ent of the work until its completion. Mr. Mj'crs immediately 
removed his residence to the city of Detroit, and engaged in 
the preparation of specifications and detail drawings. 

"On the loth of July the board entered into a contract with 
Messrs. Nehemiah Osburn & Co., builders, of Rochester N. Y., 
and Detroit, for the construction of the entire building. At 
an extra session of the Legislature, in March, 1872, the cost 
of the building, with all expenses incident to its erection, was 
limited to $1,200,000. The sum agreed upon in the contract 
is 81,144,057 20, leaving nearly $56,000 to cover extras, sal- 
aries, and other expenses. 

" The building will be of tlie Palladian style of architecture, 
which was adopted by the architect as best suited to the 
appearance of grandeur required in a building of this class. 

"The outline is sufficiently broken to produce pleasing con- 
trasts of light and shade; while the architect has studiously 
observed the suggestion of the Commissioners in avoiding 
superfluous ornamentation, preserving solidity and compact- 
ness, and at the same time giving to each apartment an abund- 
ance of light. The arrangement of the various offices and 
departments will be exceedingly convenient, special attention 
having been given in this respect to the wants of the public, 
as well as to the offices having business with each other. The 
foundation walls to the earth line are of Lamont, Illinois, 
limestone, in massive blocks extending the entire width of the 
wallj and underlined widi concrete to the depth of three feet. 
The superstructure is to be of sandstone from Amherst, Ohio, 
and the partition walls and backings to exterior walls will be 
of hard-burned bricks. The girders, beams, joists, roof, and 
dome will be made exclusively of iron, of which material all 
partitions will be made, except where constructed of masonry. 

" The stairs throughout the building, including steps, risers, 
hand-rails, balusters, and bearers, will be exclusively of iron* 



LA.NSING AND ITS ADVANTAGES. 25 



The corridors, from the basement to the top of the building, 
will be paved with marble aud slate. The most approved 
arrangements will be employed for ventilation, steam heating, 
and lighting by gas. 

"The basement story will contain an armory connected with 
the department of the Quartermaster-General, and the remain- 
der of the story will be devoted at present to storage, although 
the rooms being high, and well lighted and ventilated, will 
make excellent ofEces, should they be required at any time for 
"that purpose. The first story, which will be twenty feet in 
height, will contain offices and private apartments for the vari- 
ous State offices and bureaus. Upon this floor will be a main 
corridor, extending across the building from east to west, 
through the rotunda, under the dome, and crossed at right 
angles by a corridor 345 feet in length, extending from the 
north to the south entrance. The rotunda will be paved with 
hexagon blocks of glass, six inches in diameter, and an inch 
and a half in thickness, supported by a frame of iron, into 
which each piece will be closely fitted. From this rotunda, 
which is 44^ feet in diameter, the interior of the dome, open 
to the height of 175 feet, may be seen, with galleries extend- 
ing into it from each of the stories above. 

"Upon the second floor, at the north end of the building, 
will be the Hall of Eepresentatives, occupying the height of 
two stories, forty feet. This hall will be seventy feet in width 
by seventy-seven and a half in length, with galleries upon the 
<?ast, south, and west sides. The south gallery will extend 
back twenty-two and a half feet, making the upper portion 
of the room one hundred feet in length. There will be no 
columns or other like obstructions in this hall, the ceiling 
of which, to be of embossed colored plate glass, will be sup- 
ported by the iron roof-trusses, and the galleries will be sup- 
ported by iron girders entirely hidden from view. The hall 
will be lighted by nine windows on each side, four on the 



26 LANSING AND ITS ADVANTAGES. 



lower floor and five on the upper, and by a large sky-liglit io 
the roof, over the glass ceiling. The gas-light will be reflected 
down through this coiling. 

'' The Senate Chamber, at the south end of the building, will 
correspond, in all respects but size, with the Representative 
Hall, it being of the same width, but shorter by twelve feet. 

" Between the Legislative Halls, at the west front of the 
central portion of the building, will be the hall for the State 
Library. This hall will be one hundred feet in length, forty 
feet wide, and open to the top of the building, a height of fifty 
feet, with galleries containing alcoves for the convenient 
arrangement of books. 

"At the east front, upon the same floor, Avill be a suite of 
rooms for the Governor and his secretar}'. Over the Govern- 
or's rooms, upon the third floor, will be the Supreme Court 
room, with rooms in close proximity for the accommodation 
of the judges and attorneys, and offices of the Attorney Gen- 
eral. The remainder of the second and third stories will be 
devoted to committee rooms and other apartments required 
for the Legislature. On either side of the rotunda a grand 
stairway rises from the basement to the fourth story, private 
stairways being provided in other portions of the building as 
convenience may require. An elevator, to be operated by 
steam, will be situated in the central portion of the building. 
The roof will be of corrugated galvanised iron, constructed 
in such a manner that no trouble will be occasioned by the 
lodgment of snow or ice, and the necessity for repairs cannot 
occur with frequency. AH the windows will be glazed with 
polished English or Berlin plate glass, one plate to each sash. 

" The main pediment of the building looking east, will con- 
tain an all(>gorical representation of the rise and progress of 
Michigan, carved in ia« relief. 

" The stipulation for the completion of the building is the 
first day of December, 1877. The principal dimensions of the 



LANSING AND ITS ADVANTAGES. 27 



bnildiug are as follows : L?ngth, not including portico, 345 
feet, 2 inches; depth, 191 feet 5 inches; height of lantern, 
265 feet." 

STATE OFFICES. 

The principal State offices are those of the Secretary of 
State, State Treasurer, Superintendent of Public Instruction, 
Auditor General, Commissioner of the Land OBSce, Attorney 
General, Commissioner of Insurance, and Commissioner of 
Eailroads. Of the heads of these departments, the first six 
are elective under the Constitution, and the last two are 
appointed by the Governor under laws passed in 1871 and 
1873, respectively. The annual salaries of the first three are 
$1,000 each; of the next three, $800 each; and of the last 
two, $2,000 and $4,000 respectively. The fiscal year closes 
September 30th, and the busiest season immediately precedes 
that date. This year the force employed at that time in the 
Auditor General's office comprised 1 deputy, 1 book-keeper, 3 
regular clerks, and 55 extra clerks, 23 of whom were women ; in 
the Land Office, 1 deputy, 1 book-keeper, 1 draughtsman, 1 
regular clerk, and 13 extras; by the Secretary of State, 1 dep- 
uty, 1 regular clerk, and 16 extras, of whom 3 are women ; by 
the State Treasurer, 1 deputy, 1 book-keeper, and 3 clerks, 1 
being a woman ; by the Commissioner of Insurance, 1 deputy 
at $1,200 a year, and an occasional clerk; and by the Com- 
missioner of Railroads, 1 clerk at $1,000 a year. The Super- 
intendent of Public Instruction has 1 deputy at a salary of 
$1,300. The deputies of the Auditor General and State 
Treasurer receive $1,500 each, and of the Secretary of State 
and Commissioner of the Land Office, $1,400 each. The 
aggregate of salaries on the pay-rolls of the last year amounted 
for the Auditor General's office to $36,327 22; for the Land 
Office, to $14,846 12; for the office of the Secretary of State,, 
to $13,277 27; for the State Treasury, to $4,494 43, and for 
the lusurauce Bureau to $3,370 82. These sums, together 



28 LANSING AND ITS ADVANTAGES. 



with salaries paid out to clerks of State Boards and other 
State employes, amount to over 880,000, earned and expended 
mainly in the city of Lansing. 

The Bureaus of Instruction and of llailroads are quartered 
in the old Capitol ; the remainder in the building known 
as (he "State Offices." The latter building contains also the 
State Library, the Supreme Court Room, the office of the 
State Building Commissioners, and the State Swamp Land 
Eoad Commissioners' Office. The State Library is conducted 
by a librarian at 8800 a year. The last two offices mentioned 
are each conducted by a clerk, the Commissioners in neither 
case residing in Lansing. The list of the heads of the various 
departments is as follows : 

Secretary of State — Daniel Striker of Hastings. 

State Treasurer — Victory P. Collier of Battle Creek. 

Supt. of Pub. Instruction — Daniel B. Briggs of Romeo. 

Auditor General — William Humphrey of Lansing. 

Com'r of Land Office — Leverett A. Clapp of Centreville. 

Attorney General — Byron D. Ball of Grand Rapids. 

Com'r of Insurance— Samuel H. Row of Lansing. 

Com'r of Railroads — Stephen S. Cobb of Kalamazoo. 

State Librarian— Mrs. Harriet A. Tenney of Lansing. 

The Supreme Court now holds all its sessions at Lansing. 

the public schools of LANSING. 

The city of Lansing comprises one school district, by a 
•special charter. The management of the schools is by a board 
of education, consisting of ten persons, selected, as was required 
by the old New England laws, for their wisdom and integrity 
This board has entire control of all school alfairs, except that 
they can raise no special taxes without a vote of the district. 
The number of children in the school census in 18G5, — eight 
years ago, — was 1,039 ; the census just taken shows 1,823. 
Average annual increase, 98. The increase the past year was 
170; showing an increase of permanent population of not less 



LANSING AND ITS ADVANTAGES. 29 



than 600. The number now attending school is 1,050 ; about 
93 per cent of whom are every day in their seats. 

An increase of about 100 children per annum has required 
a constant increase of school room, equal to two rooms per 
annum ; and during the past six years four new houses have 
been erected and two enlarged,— the whole furnishing twelve 
rooms. Yet this has not kept pace with the increase of chil- 
dren, and a dwelling house has been recently purchased and 
changed into a school house, affording two more rooms, while 
tw'o other schools are taught in rented rooms. Yet, such has 
been the close economy practised, the district has no debt. 
But, as a necessary consequence, the buildings are of a cheap 
character, the entire value of buildings, aside from lots, being 
probably not more than $25,000. The sites comprise, in all, 
twenty-eight lots, and are in the aggregate worth considerably 
more than the buildings. Measures are in progress for the 
erection of a good central building, to accommodate some five 
hundred pupils, of whom there will undoubtedly be enough 
to fill it as soon as completed. 

The schools are now under the superintendency of Mr. 
E. V. W. Brokaw, with three male and twenty-four female 
teachers. Mr. Brokaw has been at the head of the schools for 
the past three years, and demonstrated superior ability and tact 
in their management. We feel safe iu making the assertion 
that no city iu the State has a better school. 

The expense of the schools the past year, for salaries of 
superintendent and teachers, was $11,295 50; an average of 
$8 01, or 80 cents per month for each pupil enrolled. 

The library contains about 400 volumes of carefully selected 
books, — all new within the past two years, — to which additions 
will be made every year. The library is free to pupils and 
their parents. 

MICHIGAN" STATE LIBKARY, 

State Office building, corner of Washington avenue and 



30 LANSING AND ITS ADVANTAGES. 



Allegan street; over 20,000 books and pamphlets upon the 
library shelves for reference; is purely a reference library- 
Open to visitors every day in tlie year except Sundays and 
legal holidays. The Law Department contains the United 
States Supreme, Circuit, and District Court reports; the 
United States statutes at large, the Supreme Court reports, 
statutes and session laws of all the States nearly complete; 
the Queen's Bench Ueports and Statutes of Canada; the Eng- 
lish Common Law, Chancery and Exchequer Keports, etc. ; 
also a valuable collection of Digests and Miscellaneous Text 
Books. In the Miscellaneous Department may be found a 
complete file of the Detroit Daily Post, and of the Detroit 
Daily Tribune and Free Press since 1859 ; the most valuable 
of the Cyclopaedias, Dictionaries, etc.; the official rej^orts of 
the various departments of the United States, of all the States, 
and Canada; valuable standard works in History, Arts and 
Sciences, and Literature. Mrs. IL A. Tenney, Librarian. 

LANSING LIBKARY AND LITEKARY ASSOCIATION, 

Library Block, Washington avenue: organized April 2Ist, 
1871 ; over 800 volumes, under charge of a Board of Direct- 
ors. A circulating library of very choice and valuable read- 
ing books. Stock $5 per share. Annual membership 83 per 
year. Rooms open every Saturday from 2 to 9^ P. M. Mrs. 
T. W. Westcott, librarian. A series of interesting literary 
entertainments, with occasionally a well selected drama, are 
given every year. 

PUBLIC SCHOOL LIBRARY, 

lligh School Building, corner of Capitol avenue and Shia- 
wassee street ; opened September, 1871, under charge of the 
Board of Education. The revenue is derived from fines in 
criminal cases, and $100 may be devoted to library purposes 
every year. Over 520 volumes; at present mostly reference. 
An addition of $200 worth soon to be added. Open during 
school year every Thursday from 4 to 5 P. M. ; at other times 



LANSING AND ITS ADVANTAGES. 31 



every Saturday at same hour for consultation and delivery 
of books to all citizens, free of charge. E. V. W. Brokaw, 
librarian. 

MICHIGAN STATE REFORM SCnOOL. 

The Michigan State Reform School is pleasantly situated 
on a slight elevation at the east end of Shiawassee street, about 
one mile north of east from Capitol Square, city of Lansing. 

A farm of one hundred and thirty-nine acres belongs to the 
institution, three acres of which are enclosed by a high board 
fence, and building in front, and shops in the rear. 

The yard in front of the building, containing five acres, is 
surrounded by a neat picket fence, and laid out in drives and 
walks, and ornamented with trees and shrubs. 

The grounds enclosed by the high fence are devoted to the 
pleasure and comfort of the boys, on a portion of which a 
gymnasium is erected, which adds materially to their health 
and enjoyment. 

The center building of the house proper fronts west, and is 
forty-eight feet wide, fifty-six feet deep, and four stories high. 
There are two wings extending north and south, each ninety- 
five feet long, thirty-three feet deep, and three stories high, 
excepting the towers at the extremities, which are four stories 
high ; one wing extending east eighty-three feet, thirty feet 
deep, three stories high. On the first or ground floor of the 
center building are a kitchen and dining-room for the Super- 
intendent, a store-room, and laundry. On the second floor are 
a reception room, parlor. Superintendent's office and private 
room. On the third floor are rooms for the officers and 
employes. On the fourth floor is the chapel, suitably arranged, 
and furnished for seating four hundred persons. 

On the first floor of the north wing are the dining-rooms 
for the boys. The second floor is used for dormitories and 
bed-rooms, and all the upper portion is us^d for dormitories, 
arranged with separate sleeping apartments for the boys. 



32 LANSING AND ITS ADVANTAGES. 



In the basement of south wing is the wash or bath-room for 
the boys, where their daily ablutions are performed. On tho 
first floor are school-rooms and tailor shop ; on the second 
floor, school-rooms and library. The upper portion, as in the 
north wing, for sleeping apartments. 

In the basement of the east wing are the laundry, store- 
room, and cellar. On tho first floor, the kitchen, bakery, shoe 
shop, and ironing room. On the second, the hospital and bed- 
rooms, and in the upper jiortion are sleeping apartments for 
the boys. 

On the northeast part of the yard stand the shops, a three- 
story brick building, one hundred and forty-six feet long and 
fifty-three feet wide, suitably divided, and provided with 
machinery for the employment of the boys. 

On each side of the main building, facing the front yard, 
stand two family houses; two-story brick edifices, forty-two 
by fifty-two feet, containing suitable apartments for an over- 
seer and his family, together with a large number of inmates 
Avhose good conduct has merited this advancement. 

The farm, all of which is now under cultivation and pastur- 
age except about twenty-five acres of wood-land, has for its 
use a large barn 48xG0, with stone basement and cellar, for the 
use of cattle, a horse-barn, vragon and tool sheds, etc., suflB- 
cient to shelter all the stock and tools necessary for carrying 
on its operations. 

THE STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. 

This College occupies a pleasant and healthy location about 
three miles east from Lansing. The buildings stand upon a 
slight eminence, among the forest trees, which have been pur- 
posely retained. The grounds have been neatly laid out by a 
professional landscape gardener, and a beginning made of 
■working out the details of the plan. The grounds already 
abound with lawns, walks, drives, flower-borders, and other 
features pleasing to the taste. 







liiiiiiiiiiiliiiMi, 




«ii ■ 



34 LANSING AND ITS ADVANTAGES. 



An Act of Congress, approved July 2, ISG'2, donated to each 
State public lands to the amount of 30,000 acres for each of 
its Senators and Representatives in Congress, according to the 
census of 1860, for the "endowment, support, and mainte- 
nance of at least one College, where the leading object shall 
be, without excluding other scientific and classical studies, and 
including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning 
as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts."' 

The Legislature accepted this grant, and bestowed it upon 
the Agricultural College. By its provisions the College receives 
240,000 acres of land. These lands have been placed in mar- 
ket, and 04,598.58 acres have been sold, giving a fund of 
$207,500.74, the interest of which is applied to the support of 
the College. Their sale is under the direction of the Agricult- 
ural Land Grant Board, consisting of the Governor, Auditor 
General, Secretary of State, State Treasurer, Attorney General, 
and Commissioner of the State Land Office. Any ijiforma- 
tion in regard to their sale may be obtained by applying to the 
Commissioner of the State Land Office. 

ODD FELLOWS IXSTITUTE, 

Located on Pine s.trcet, between Maple and Willow streets. 
Board of Commissioners of the State: J. S. Curtis, East Sag- 
inaw; E.H.Whitney, Lansing; Geo. W. Griggs, Grf*nd Eap- 
ids; E. C. Weliesly, Colon; E. XL Thompson, Flint; J. X. 
Ingersoll, Corunna; D. B. Tracy, Petersburg. Executive 
Board : J. S. Curtis, E. H. Whitney, J. X. Ingersoll ; J. S. Cur- 
tis, Chairman of the Board ; E. H. Whitney, Sec. ; M. T. Lane, 
Janitor. Organized in 1871. The citizens of Lansing donated 
45 acres of land and the north wing of the Misses Eogers' 
Female College building to the Grand Lodge, for the purposes 
of an Odd Fellows Institute. Miss Delia Rogers generously 
donated a very large portion of the land purchase, a library of 
about 1,500 volumes, and a fine philosophical apparatus. The 
land and buildings are located in the northwest portion of the 



LANSING AND ITS ADVANTAGES. 



35 



city, and valued at 870,000. The whole, when completed, will 
cost about §300,000. During 1871-2 an addition 57 feet 
square, constituting" the main front, was put up at a cost of 
$30,000. The entire structure is to be completed as rapidW 
as the demands of the Order may recjuire. 




36 LAJN'SING AND ITS ADVANTAGES. 



CHURCHES. 



JFirsfc Baptist Church is located on the comer of Capitol 
avenue and Ionia street. 

Free Baptist Church is located on Kalamazoo, between 
Capitol and Washington avenues. 

First Methodist Episcopal Church is located on the corner 
of Cedar and Franklin streets. 

First Presbyterian Church, corner of Washington avenue 
and Genesee street. 

First Congregational Church, east side of Tovvnsend, corner 
of Allegan. 

Central Methodist Church, corner Washington avenue and 
Ottawa street. 

German Methodist Church, corner of Lapeer and Seymour 
streets. 

The Methodist Church of St. Joseph ("Cedar Branch"), 
Main street, between Grand street and Washington avenue. 

Lutheran Church, corner of Kilbourne and Seymour streets 

German Evangelical Lutheran Church, corner of Chestnut 
and Saginaw streets. 

Protestant Episcopal Church, corner of Ottawa and Sey- 
mour streets. 

Second Presbyterian Church, corner of Franklin and Wash- 
ington avenues. 

Universalist Church, corner of Allegan and Grand streets. 

Roman Catholic Church, corner of Chestnut and Madison 
streets. 

Methodist (colored) Church, corner of Ottawa and Pine 
streets. 



LANSING AND ITS ADVANTAGES. 



NEWSPAPERS. 



THE KEPUBLICA>Sr. 

The Lansing State Eepublican, now in its 19th year, and 
the oldest paper in the city of Lansing or county of Ingham, 
has an extensive circulation and tirst-class reputation. It is 
published every Friday morning, by the firm of W. S. George 
& Co. It is a nine-column paper, on a large sheet, handsomely 
printed, and its editorial force is suflScient to guaranty the 
earliest and most correct news. The State printing and bind- 
ing is done upon contract by this firm ; and it is admitted by 
all who are familiar with the public printing of the different 
States and of the United States, that the work of this office is 
equalled by few and surpassed by none. Forming a part of 
the same establishment is an extensive book and job printing 
office, bindery, and blank-book manufactory, with machinery 
run by steam, and employing from 40 to 50 hands. The 
above business is all carried on in a three-story building, on 
Michigan avenue, near the new Capitol. 

THE JOURKAL. 

The Lansing Journal is an excellent weekly newspaper, pub- 
lished every Thursday, by Geo. P. Sanford, Editor and Propri- 
etor. It is Liberal in politics, has a large and growing circu- 
lation, and is well sustained with advertising patronage. It 
has a fine job-office, and turns out excellent work. 



38 LANSING AND ITS ADVANTAGES. 



THE LANSING MINERAL AND 
MAGNETIC WELL. 



A history minutely given of this well seems to us unncces- 
sary at this time, from the fact of its resemblance to those 
elsewhere, and its oft repetition establishing tliat which has 
already given it a good reputation the world over. The medi- 
cinal qualities of the water, the popularity gained, and such 
other facts connected, are sufficient of themselves, without 
jroingr into laudations concornin,']: the well, or of its beautiful 
surroundings. 

The distinctive medical influences of this water upon the 
system are Alterative, Cathartic, Diuretic, Sedative, and Tonic. 
As a therapeutic agent it is peculiarly applicable to Kheuma- 
tism, Paralysis, Dyspepsia, Scrofula, Erysipelas, Gravel, Dia- 
betes, Piles, Catarrh, Liver and Kidney Complaints, Cutaneous 
Diseases, Weak Lungs, Inflamed Eyes, Bronchitis, Salt Rheum. 
Keuralgia, Chronic Diarrhcea, and all affections of the mucous 
membrane. All of the above mentioned diseases have been 
eflfectually cured by the use of this water, and the affidavits of 
many of those permanently relieved from their sufferings arc 
now in print. 




LAWMWG MOV8M, 



